Immigrant education rule tweaked: Commitment to legal residency might be emphasized

By Zahira Torres \ Austin Bureau
Posted: 01/21/2012 12:00:00 AM MST

AUSTIN -- While Texas Gov. Rick Perry has dropped his presidential bid, higher education officials are tweaking procedures for a state law he defended on the national stage that grants in-state tuition to qualifying undocumented immigrants.

Under the law approved by legislators in 2001, undocumented immigrants qualify for in-state tuition as long as they graduate from a state high school, have lived in Texas for at least three years and sign an affidavit stating that they plan to seek legal permanent residency.

Colleges and universities are not required to keep records of those affidavits and do not have to follow up with students.

But that may change Thursday when the Higher Education Coordinating Board votes on proposed new procedures that will direct colleges and universities to permanently maintain the affidavits students sign until they can prove that they have established legal residency.

If approved, the new procedures would require institutions of higher education to remind students upon admission, each year they are enrolled and when they graduate that they have committed to seeking permanent residency. The institutions would also refer students to a federal agency for instructions on how to gain legal status.

"When the presidential race unfolded it just became such a white-hot issue," said Dominic Chavez, spokesman for the Coordinating Board. "It became clear to our board leadership and the commissioner that there is something we can do within our rule-making authority to provide better assurance to taxpayers, to the citizens of Texas, that the institutions and the students are complying with the intent of the legislation."
A total of 16,476 undocumented immigrants -- about one percent of the 1.4 million students in Texas community colleges and universities -- took the affidavit route in 2010, according to the latest available figures. That year, the state provided about $12.1 million in formula funding for undocumented students who qualified as Texas residents. Those students, in turn, paid $32.7 million in tuition and fees.

"We want to make sure that students that are funded under this legislation understand what their obligations are to pursue legal status as soon as that opportunity is available," said Raymund Paredes, the state's higher education commissioner. "I don't think students need an incentive to do that, but we will make sure that they're aware of their obligation."

El Paso Community College had 242 of its nearly 30,000 students choose the affidavit route in 2010. At the University of Texas at El Paso, about 107 of 22,000 students received in-state tuition under the law.

Craig Westman, associate vice president of academic affairs at UTEP, said he does not think the proposed procedures would force the university to incur new costs.

"We have the mechanisms in place that make it easy enough to contact them and communicate what's needed," Westman said. "It shouldn't be too bad but, again, it would be interesting to see what rules they finally come out with."

David Hinojosa, southwest regional counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, expressed concerns with the procedures.

He said universities should not be obligated to direct students to federal immigration agencies but should be able provide information on immigration lawyers. He also said affidavits should not be retained permanently but rather the same length of time as other educational records.

Still, Hinojosa said the most important thing is for Texas to retain the in-state tuition law for qualifying undocumented immigrants.

"At the end of the day, these rules do nothing to lessen an undocumented immigrant student's access to in-state tuition," he said.

A Republican-dominated Legislature last year did not pursue bills that would repeal the in-state tuition law by leaving them pending in committees. A final attempt by a freshman Republican senator to remove in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants by attaching it to another bill was shot down by bipartisan opposition.

Paredes said that while the issue drew much attention during the presidential primaries, he is not aware of any plans by the Legislature to take it on next session.

"We haven't heard anything definitive," Paredes said. "We've heard rumblings from particular political groups, but we have not received any information from the Legislature that this is likely to be a significant issue as we move forward."

Zahira Torres may be reached at ztorres@elpasotimes.com; 512-479-6606.

Immigrant education rule tweaked: Commitment to legal residency might be emphasized - El Paso Times